by Mike Donoghue

BURLINGTON — A Leicester woman and her longtime boyfriend, who was critically wounded when his brother was fatally shot last summer, pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to federal drug trafficking charges.

Laryssa Dutton, 29, and Larry L. Lanpher Jr., 32, denied in U.S. District Court the single felony charge that they conspired in Vermont and elsewhere with others to knowingly and intentionally distribute both crack and cocaine between January 2023 and August 2023.

Vermont State Police and the FBI began an investigation into the wounding of Lanpher and the fatal shooting of his brother, Scott D. Lanpher, 35, at their family residence on U.S. 7 on about 9:55 p.m.  June 4, 2023.

Zaquikon T. Roy, 35, of St. Albans and Rutland has been identified in court records as the shooter of both Lanpher brothers.

Lanpher, who is facing the new drug charge, is listed as an eyewitness to his older brother’s fatal shooting. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller had said when Roy was initially charged in federal court last year that the shooting centered on a possible attempt by the Lanphers to steal money and drugs from Roy.

Fuller elaborated a little more on Wednesday in court papers and said “conduct on the part of Larry Lanpher Jr., Laryssa Dutton and others on June 4, 2023 led to a drug dispute with Zaquikon Roy which resulted in the shooting and homicide.”

The veteran prosecutor said Dutton and Lanpher have been involved in distributing crack and cocaine since at least January 2023 and even continued to sell drugs after the homicide.  Both defendants have significant crack addictions, Fuller said in court papers.

When police arrived to arrest Lanpher and Dutton Tuesday at their trailer in Leicester, Lanpher remained inside smoking crack before Dutton answered the door, Fuller said.

Once inside, police found Lanpher in bed with a crack pipe, she said.

Fuller said given the significant history of the two defendants for ongoing use of illicit drugs and their various failures to appear in state court when ordered, both needed to be held in federal custody to keep the community safe.

Burlington lawyer Richard Bothfeld, on behalf of Lanpher, and Middlebury lawyer Devin McLaughlin, on behalf of Dutton, both said in federal court Wednesday afternoon they would not fight the detention motion for the time being.

Bothfield and McLaughlin both said they expect to return to court to ask for the release of their clients once drug treatment plans can be developed for each.

McLaughlin said it has become a little harder to get detained inmates into treatment because the Vermont Department of Corrections won’t assist in the effort.  The new DOC policy has become a common complaint heard in federal court.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle was told that Dutton and Lanpher both have previously attended Valley Vista for their drug addiction.

Lanpher initially said “guilty” when asked for his plea by Doyle, but Bothfeld corrected him and said it was “not guilty.”

Bothfeld and McLaughlin both asked for 90 days to review the evidence and consider pre-trial motions.  Doyle set a June 24 deadline.

Dutton received a misdemeanor conviction this month in state court for cocaine possession from an incident in March 2023,  records show.  Fuller said records show Dutton was out on conditions from state court in that drug case and the homicide and drug incident happened three months later.

Dutton and Lanpher also were arrested in October 2023 on other unrelated cocaine possession charges, but they both blew off state court hearings, Fuller said in court papers.

Four days after the Leicester shooting, Addison County State’s Attorney Eva P. Vekos filed six felony charges, including murder against Roy, according to State Police Detective Sgt. Seth Richardson of the Major Crime Squad.  The charges followed a joint investigation that included Brandon and Middlebury Police.

Vekos asked for the charges – second degree murder, manslaughter, attempted second degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm after being convicted of a violent crime – be sealed because Roy was on the run, records show.

The charges became known when the FBI arrested Roy in Lewiston, Maine on Aug. 10 on the gun case and for a federal Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant.

Roy initially denied the gun charge, but he was later named in an expanded eight-count indictment filed Feb. 1 that included using a .380 caliber Bodyguard handgun on June 4, 2023 – the day of the shooting – to further his drug trafficking business.

Roy, also known as Chris Atwood, has denied all the charges.

The original federal charge after the fatal shooting was for an earlier possession of a .40-caliber pistol on April 7 and 8, 2021 by a convicted felon in Rutland County two years ago.  Roy displayed the loaded gun, which had been used in drug dealing, in Rutland, Brandon and Fair Haven and was recovered during a court-ordered search of the car he was using, records show.

Courts records show Roy has five felony drug convictions Vermont, including sales, possession and conspiracy between 2009 and 2013.  He also has a felony gun conviction in New York in 2019, records show.

His arraignment on the state charges in Addison County took a backseat to the federal indictment.  At one point Vekos said she thought it was likely the state charges would be wrapped into the federal case.

Roy, who is from Brooklyn, initially resided in the Rutland area for several years, but was living with a Franklin County woman at the time of the double shooting, police said.

His girlfriend, Kimberly Coons Bouchard, 37, of St. Albans was linked to three drug cases in 15 months, records show.

She signed a federal plea agreement admitting to charges of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine in Vermont and elsewhere between January and June 2023 and with conspiring to possess firearms to further her drug trafficking business during that time, records show. 

Bouchard is due for sentencing next month, but has been admitted to the Federal Drug Court in Burlington.

Fuller has said law enforcement was aware “Bouchard was present at the shooting, that she left the scene of the homicide in a vehicle registered to her; that she later falsely reported that vehicle stolen.”

Bouchard made a false report to Burlington Police about the stolen car, authorities said.  The vehicle was found in Middlebury, state police said.

Roy and Bouchard first fled by bus from Plattsburgh, N.Y. to New York City two days after the homicide and family members were contacted urging him to surrender, Fuller said. 

Bouchard returned to Vermont by bus and was arrested.  Roy fled to Maine, where he was arrested two months later after a short foot chase, Fuller said.  He was found with 11 grams of crack cocaine and a cellphone, she said.  His apartment contained a 9-mm firearm, cash and numerous cellphones, she said.